futureLAB Press Release, Dec 22, 2005
Developments in the area of photography have clearly advanced in the direction of digital technology. This means that digital cameras are gradually replacing their analog counterparts and the Zurich City Police is no exception. The investigating authorities continually require photo prints or additional photographs, e.g. for accidents. Therefore, the electronic pictures must be archived in such a way, so that they can be easily located for further processing like print ordering on photographic paper or exporting.
To this end, the City Police was looking for a new and user-friendly application for the 1200 users of the police and investigating authorities. The aspect of user-friendliness was extremely important in this case, since users with limited technical expertise also have to use the features offered by the online photo service. The key principle was to choose a user interface most people are already familiar with, like the ones found on domestic applications used for online print ordering of digital photos.
The system was complemented with functionalities for «recording and archiving cases for shared usage», «search», «administration», «ordering of paper prints» as well as «protection against forgery» by means of digital watermarks.
As part of an invitation to tender, futureLAB came out as the preferred choice among several competitors. Of crucial importance here were competence and experience in the area of online image processing, the extensive functionality and flexibility of the solution and, of course, its user-friendliness.
The system is based on the proven fotoZEN platform and was supplied as an appliance, i.e. on its own dedicated hardware operated locally by the City Police. Besides seamless integration into the IT infrastructure of the City Police, the digital production system (Fujicolor Minilab type 350) was also successfully incorporated. A significant milestone has been achieved with this project in the segment of enterprise photo management solutions and, as such, it is set to become increasingly important in the future.
About the Zurich City Police
The Zurich City Police is one of the largest police forces in Switzerland. The Technical Accident Service of the City Police is responsible for maintenance, purchasing, equipping and archiving in the area of photography for the Zurich City Police.
About futureLAB
futureLAB is a software development company founded in May 2000 by its employees. The engineering team consists of very experienced Internet software and network specialists. All members of the management team have a track record of successfully building new products, lines of business and entirely new businesses that have generated millions in revenue in telecommunications and Internet industries. futureLAB specializes in the design and implementation of innovative software solutions. The fotoZEN online photo management platform is the latest achievement in that area. «Best of Swissweb» assigned it two awards in the categories «innovation» and «creativity» and it is being used Europe-wide as managed service by more than twenty partner companies like cablecom, sunrise, NZZ, Blick, Hotelplan, Interdiscount and others which are offering services to end-users.
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